Challenge / In Japan, those living in urban areas tend to have little garage space and can usually only accommodate cars up to 1.8m in width. Because of this, many people purchase vehicles from domestic brands that tend to make smaller cars, despite being attracted to higher-quality foreign automakers like Audi.

However, the German auto brand’s Audi A3 is actually less than 1.8m in width and just the right size for urban homes. Audi needed to communicate this message to its target audience.

Solution / Working with Dentsu, Tokyo, Audi created a newspaper insert that pulls out to become a life-size poster of an Audi A3. People could use the Showroom Home Delivery poster to test whether or not the car would fit in their homes. The print ad also doubled as an AR marker, which users could scan in order to see a virtual version of the car pop up among their surroundings.

To get people talking about the campaign, the brand asked the public to snap a photo of the virtual car in the most unusual places possible and post it on social media.

Results / According to the agency, more than 400 media outlets covered the campaign, which earned $2.7m in PR value.

Contagious Insight /

Show and tell / This is a great solution to Audi’s problem: the poster doesn’t just tell people that the Audi A3 will fit in their garage, it actually shows them that it will. This means that potential buyers can use it to find out if their home could accommodate the car. And even if the receipient isn’t in the market for a new car, it helps to change perceptions about Audis as cars that are too big for the city. The size of the ad also makes it hard to ignore, making Audi’s message more likely to get noticed.

Dealership to your door / Using newspapers allows Audi to get into the homes of those it wants to target. The urban dwellers can get a feel for the car without having to set foot in a dealership, or even leave the comfort of their own home. The brand has come to them, which may help create new customers that wouldn’t otherwise have considered Audi.

This story originally appeared on Contagious I/O, our intelligence tool featuring the most creative and effective ideas in marketing from around the world. I/O helps anyone in the world of marketing understand why brands are innovating, how they're doing it and with what success.